Allan Sekula Quotes

The only objective truth that photographs offer is the assertion that somebody or something... was somewhere and took a picture.

The photograph is an incomplete utterance, a message that depends on some external matrix of conditions and presuppositions for its readability.

Documentary is thought to be art when it transcends its reference to the world, when the work can be regarded, first and foremost, as an act of self-expression on the part of the artist.

Black-and-white photos tell the truth. That's why insurance companies use them.

How does photography serve to legitimate and normalize existing power relationships? ... How is historical and social memory preserved, transformed, restricted and obliterated by photographs?

The making of a human likeness on film is a political act.

Photography promises an enhanced mastery of nature, but photography also threatens conflagration and anarchy.